Thursday, December 30, 2010

The Portland Trailblazers announced that star guard Brandon Roy will be out for an extended period to rest his sore knees.

The Breakdown
This news does not surprise us as we felt Roy would be shut down at some point during the season. It appears that Roy will be out for a while, which gives Nicolas Batum value in standard leagues. Batum has been playing well as Roy's replacement in the starting five, averaging 13 points, 1.3 three-pointers, and 6.7 rebounds on nearly 50% shooting from the field. Batum is still available in just over half of leagues.

Deeper leagues will want to take a look at Rudy Fernandez. Rudy's seen just under 24 minutes a game off the bench in Portland's last three games and he continues to be a solid source of points and threes. He's owned in just over 5% of leagues.